bailey



' J. BAILEY.

ROTATING LEER AND METHOD OF OPERATING THE SAME: APPLICATION r1150 MAR.17, 1919.

Patented my 16,1922.

2 SHEETSSHEET l. I

J. BAILEY.

ROTATING LEER AND METHOD OF OPERATING THE SAME. APPLICATION FILED MAR.11, 1919.

1,416,595. Patented May16,1922.

ZSHEETS-SHEET 2.

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UNITED STATES Parent OFFIQE,

JAMES BAILEY, or coamno, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR T0 comqme GLASS wonxs, orcomuno, new YORK, a oonronsrron or NEW YORK.

ROTATING LEER AND METHOD OF OPERATING THE SAME.

Application filed March r7, 1919.

To aZZ whom it may concern Be it known that 1, JA? as BAILEY, a citi-Zen of the United States of America, and a resident of Corning, in thecounty of Steuben and State of New York, have invented certain new and.useful improve ments in Rotating Leers and vhilethod of Uperating theSame, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has for its purpose to provide a novel method of feedingarticles during the heat treatment thereof and a novel apparatus wherebysuch a 'method may be carried on;, to the end that all parts of thesurface of such article shall be uniformly exposed to identical heatconditions during the period in question.

This invention in so far as it relates to the apparatus employedcomprises a rotary chamber. preferabl circular in cross-section(although this shape may be de arted from. to some extent), and means'for heating the interior thereof, preferably, but not nece sarily. byconduction through the walls of the chamber. If articles which arecircular or substantially circular in cross-section, are fed into oneend of such a chamber, gravity will tend in the rotation thereof tocause them to rest on and remain in the bottom thereof, and in thistendency will cause a rotary motion to be imparted thereto, whereby theywill roll on the inner wall of such chamber, the articles tending toassume a position at an angle to the plane in which the articles arerotated by the chamber. According to this invention the shape of thechamber and of the articles should be such that in the rotation of thearticles around. their longitudinal axes they will be given aprogressive motion through the chamber. This will be accomplished by acylindrical. chamber, if the articles be substantially conoidal, while,if the chamber be conoidal, cylindrical articles will be given aprogressive motion. ln the first case the direction of motion in towardsthe apex of the conoid, and in the second towards the base. Thus thisinvention is causing a feeding motion due to the rotation. of thearticles under the influence of gravity and of the rotation of thechamber, dispenses With the use of? articulated carrying or drivingelements within the heated chamber, the driving element in thisinvention taking thel'orm of the rotating chamber, the bearing for whichmay be Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 16, 1922.

Serial No. 283,062.

located outside of the heated Zone. It has been also found that, if thebottom of the chamber be inclined to the horizontal, While the drivingeffect of the rotation of the chamher on articles capable of being setin rotation therein will be suilicient to cause such articles fed to thelower end thereof to move upwardly through the chamber, broken particlesand fragments, not of proper crosssection to be set in rotation, willslide down to the bottom of the chamber and fall from the charging end,thus causing the device to act as a separator.

With a chamber such described is associated proper feeding and removingdevices.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, which represent an apparatuscapable of being used in carrying out the present process and embodyingthe present invention,

Figure l is a side elevation partly in sectionof such apparatus. a

Figure 2 is a horizontal section through the heated chamber showing thefeed and renmving devices in plan.

Figure 3 is an end view partly in through the heated chamber.

Figure elis a vertical transverse on the line l-e of Figure 2, and

- l i -ure 5 is a vertical longitudinal section of modified form ofapparatus falling within the broad invention here claimed.

In Figures l. to 1, this invention is shown in a form which has beenfound well adapted to the heat treatment (annealing) of bulbs intendedfor fabrication into electric lamps, and .isembodied in a leer. withproper de vices for feeding the bulbs thereto, and the tlollowingdescription of construction and operation is directed to suchembodiment,

section section the same forms an example of that species of theinvention which contemplates the feeding of a cone-shaped articlethrough a rotating heating cylil'lder, although it will be understoodthat by the specific illustration and description here to be made it isnot intended to restrict the invention toannealing of bulbs or to thedetails of the apparatus described as suitable therefor, such particulardescription being made for the purposes of illustration, and not as alimitation of the invention.

As preliminary to the description of the construction shown it is noted,that the bulbs, which the specific embodiment here taken for purposes ofillustration is adapted to anneal, are the form in which they arefabricated by the blower or blowing machine (the moil or neclrringhaving been by preference removed). Such abulb commonly consists of aconoidal' body portion, from the smaller end of which projects 'a moreor less cylindrical neck. All portions of such a bulb are within afrustum of a cone, the generating line of which touches the surface ofthe rear and front end of the conoidal body, or the rear end of theconoidal body and the front end of the neck, dependent upon the lengthof the neck and the diameter ofthe forward end thereof, By preferencethe axis of the cone should be longer than its greatest diameter. In theparticular bulb here chosen for illustration the length of the neck issuch that the enclosing cone touches the forward end of the neck and theconoidal body portion near the rear thereof. Such a bulb will. have twocircles of contact with a plane surface on which. it may be rolled, thelarger circle be ing formed by the rear of its conoidal body, and thesmaller circle formed by the end of the neck.

The structure shown in Figures 1, 2 and 3, embodies a metalliccylindrical pipe 10, which forms the heating chamber, and is mounted insuitable end bearings 11, formed of lower members 12, supporting thepipe by means of rollers 13, and of hold down collars 14, the pipehaving flanges 15 thereon to prevent endwise motion. Throughout agreater portion of its length the pipe is within a chamber 16, prferably lined with heat-insulation 17, and provided with the burners 18by which it may be heated, and by which its temperature at variouspoints throughout its length may be regulated. The pipe carries on oneend a sprocket wheel 20 driven by a chain. 21 from a motor 22 through areduction gearing 23, the motor being mounted in the base of the frame.An inclined trough 30 is adapted to feed the articles to the entranceend of the chamber 10, and a second trough 31 is provided into which thearticles may drop from the delivery end of the chamber, and be carriedto any desired point. 7

The feeding trough has a central channel 82 in its bottom, as isv shownin Figure 4, by which channel the bulbs 34 when placed on the troughwith their necks down are guided and prevented from turning end for end,and are thus fed to the leer small end first. By preference, a slot 33is formed in the bottom of the trough through which pieces of bulbsbroken while in the trough may fall, and thus be separatedfrom theperfect articles.

In the operation of the device described, inannealing bulbs, the rotarychamber 10 having been put in rotation, and the flames of the burners 18having been properly adjusted to give the desired temperaturesthroughout the different zones of the leer, the bulbs are deposited,neck down, on the chute 30 down which they slide by gravity into and onthe bottom of one (in the type shown, the lower) end of the chamber 10,substantially lengthwise thereof, with their necks to the front. If thechamber was not in rotation, each bulb would assume a position with itsaxis in the same vertical plane as the axis of rotation of the chamber,which may be called the vertical fore and aft plane. Gravity tends tomaintain the bulb in this position, while the rotation of the chambertends to move the bulb side-ways and upwards. These two forces, actingin opposition to each other, put the bulbs into continual intermittentrotation around, or substantially around, the longitudinal axes thereof,and cause a slight shifting of the axis of each of the bulbs from timeto time to a position slightly inclined to the fore and aft plane, withthe result that in practice some of the force causing rotation of thechamber will be so exerted on the bulb as to cause rotation thereofsubstantially on its longitudinal axis and thus a motion of the latteralong the chamber. Upon reaching the exit end of the chamber the bulbwill fall upon the removing trough 31. It may be that with certainarticles it will be desirable to feed from the upper end. This, forinstance, will be the case with certain types of bulbs which tend tobreak into pieces of such shape and size that they will not feedupwardly and cannot slide downwardly past the upwardly moving perfectarticles.

As the feed of the bulb through the chamber is dependent on the rotationof the bulb,

it will be seen that broken bulbs which can f notbe set in rotation willnot feed through the leer, but will, if fed to the lower endthereof,.slide down out of the charging end thereof, being thusseparated from the complete ones.

It will be further seen, as the motion of the bulbs is dependent ontheir rotation, that no part on any bulb can remain in prolonged contactwith the wall of the chamber, and that the points of contact areconstantly, shifting. From this result that every part of each bulbwillbe subjected to the air temperature within the chamber and thusuniform annealing is assured. V By preference, for. assembly in the shopthe delivery trough is, as shown, placed at an angle to the fore and aftplane of the chamber, but obviously this is not essential.

In Figure 5 isillustrateda species falling within-the broad scope of theinvention above described, and which is adapted to feed. a cylindricalarticle 35 and in which the rotating chamber 36 is inthe form of afrustum of a cone. With such a structurethe resulting rotation of thearticle will cause, for

reasons before stated, a feeding motion of the article from the small tothe large end of the trustum.

Having thus described the invention, What claimed is, i. 'he hereindescribed method of feeding an article through a heat treating zone,which consists in rotating the article about an axis inclined at anoblique angle to the direction of feed.

:2. The herein described method of feed ing an article through a heattreating zone, ".vhich consists in alternately raising the article andpermitting it to roll down a sup porting surface under the influence ofgravity by rotating about an axis oblique to the direction of feed.

3. The herein described method of feed in an article through a heattreating zone, which consists in alternately raising the article andpermitting it to roll down a supporting surface under the influence ofgravity by rotating about an axis oblique to the direction at "feed,while constraining the an ticle against motion tending to change thedirection of such axis.

i. The herein described method of feeding articles through a heattreating zone which consists in rotating the article around itslongitudinal axis by a force supplied to periphery at an angle to thedirection of .d, while constraining the article against motion tendingto change the direction of such axis.

The herein described method of feed ing an article through a rotatingchamber, which consists in alternately lifting the article by the powerapplied. to rotate the chamber and permitting the article to roll downthe walls of the chamber by rotating about an axis oblique to thedirection of feed through the chamber.

6. The herein described method of feeding an article through a rotatingchamber, which consists in alternately lifting the artiele by the powerapplied to rotate the chamher and permitting the article to roll downthe Walls of the chamber by rotating about an axis oblique to thedirection of feed through the chamber, while constraining the articleagainst motion tending to change the direction of such axis.

7. In a device for the heat treatment of articles, the combination of arotating tubuiar chamber whose interior circular Wall is substantiallysmooth from end to end, and substantially concentric with its axis ofrotation, the lower Wall of the chamber being slightly inclined, andmeans for controlling the temperature Within the chamber.

A leer consisting of a heated rotating chamber Whose axis is at an angleto the hori zontal.

9. A. device for the heat treatment of articles Which in crosssectionare approximately circular, the diameter of a cross-seetion taken at onpoint along the longitudinal axis of the article being different fromthe diameter of a cross-section taken at any other point along saidaxis, consisting of a rotating chamber, the diameter of the chamberbeing such in relation to the corn figuration of the article to betreated that gravity tends to cause the article to assume a positionwith its longitudinal axis in the same vertical plane as the axis of therotation of the chamber.

10. A leer tor the heat treatment of an article which in cross sectionis approximately circular and Whose diameter taken at one point alongits longitudinal axis is dif- 'lerent from its diameter taken at anotherpoint along such axis, consisting oi a heated rotating chamber and meansfor feeding the article to one end of the chamber, the diameter oi": thechamber being such in relation to the configuration of the article thatgravity tends to cause the article to assume aposition with itslongitudinal axis in the same vertical. plane as the axis of rotation ofthe chamber.

In testimony "whereof I sign my name this 10th day of March 1919.

JAMES BAILEY.

